Watching the fluffy tan puppy through a window at the vet's office, the Messners never knew if that day would be their last with him.

New Oxford-based PA Caring for K-9s saved Nicholas, a small mixed-breed pup, and his three 9-week-old littermates from a high-kill shelter in Alabama in November.

The Messners, a family from Dover, volunteered to foster Nicholas and one of his brothers, while another family took the remaining puppies, with the intention of turning them over to their forever homes within a few weeks.

But three of those four puppies died from a highly contagious virus just a few days after settling in with their fosters. Nicholas fell ill soon after, starting a more than two-week stay at a York County veterinary hospital.

The vets didn't know if Nicholas would pull through the illness that had already claimed his littermates, and Tawnya Jumper, who runs the group that rescued him, wondered how she would pay the thousands of dollars in vet bills that were quickly building.

But when the vets asked what she wanted to do with the last puppy , she knew she couldn't give up on him.

"I'm like, 'I've gone this far, I'm not going to lose this dog,'" she said.

Saving Nicholas

Tracey Messner and her family fell in love with Nicholas as soon as they saw him.

The mixed-breed pup, whom the rescue believes is a Yorkie-dachshund mix, had one brown eye and one bright blue eye, as well as soft tan fur flecked with bits of black and white.

The family — which includes Tracey, husband Larry and their two college-aged daughters — has fostered more than 30 dogs for PA Caring for K-9s over the past year. While each dog has a special story, some, like Nicholas, stick out from the crowd, Tracey Messner said.

Within a couple days of arriving in the state, Nicholas and his littermates started showing signs of parvovirus, a highly contagious viral disease that attacks dogs' intestinal tracts and white blood cells, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Puppies usually receive vaccinations against the virus, but because the disease can survive on carpets, toys and food dishes for months, most dog rescues are bound toencounter it at some point, Jumper said.

When Nicholas's littermates contracted the virus, the Messners knew it was only a matter of time until he would start showing symptoms too. He soon ended up in an isolation unit at Dover Area Animal Hospital, where his condition grew dire.

"It was pretty touch and go for about a week," Messner said.

Eventually, Messner and her family were able to visit their surviving foster puppy at the animal hospital, where they viewed him through a window to decrease the risk of spreading the virus to other animals.

At times, he seemed depressed and exhausted, Tracey Messner said, but he would wag his tail when he saw friendly faces through the window.

Two days before Christmas, they finally brought him home.

Community support

With Nicholas better and preparing to move to his permanent home in Maryland, PA Caring for K-9s still had a massive bill to pay.

Vet trips are nothing new for the two-year-old group, which rescued more than 700 dogs in 2014, Jumper said. Usually, adoption fees cover these expenses.

But with almost $5,000 in treatment costs just for Nicholas's litter, Jumper said she didn't know how her organization would gather the funding.

That was where the community stepped in to help. Lauryn, the Messner's 19-year-old daughter, made a GoFundMe page for Nicholas and reached out to friends, family members and other foster families for help.

She updated the page frequently with photos of the puppy , whom their family is still fostering.

Within a month, they raised more than $800.

"Every single thing goes right back into the rescue," Jumper said.

Homecoming

Nicholas's journey isn't over yet. At the end of January, we will go to his permanent home with the O'Byrne family in Hampstead, Maryland.

Carol O'Byrne found Nicholas while browsing puppy photos on PA Caring for K-9s' Facebook page. As soon as she saw his photo, she said, she knew he would be coming home with her.

She and her family have followed Nicholas's journey from his trip from Alabama to the agonizing weeks when they weren't sure whether he would pull through. The Messners, she said, have become almost like family, sending them daily emails and text messages about their puppy .

O'Byrne and her husband have brought their two children, ages 8 and 5, to visit Nicholas several times. The pair can't wait to have bring home their first puppy .

Seeing the amount of work the rescue was willing to put in to save Nicholas, the support from community members who have donated toward his bills and the Messners' commitment to caring for him until he is ready to come home has been amazing, O'Byrne said.

As for the Messners, saying goodbye is nothing new. They have done it more than 30 times before with their other foster dogs.

But it never gets easier.

"It's going to be very hard," Tracey Messner said. "But I know he's going to have a wonderful life."

Donate

To make a contribution toward Nicholas's vet bills, visit www.gofundme.com/j9k094.

To become a foster family or receive more information about PA Caring for K-9s, visit www.pack9rescue.org.